Riverside plans are 'muddled'

FURTHER criticisms have been levelled at the controversial Radcliffe Riverside consultation this week, with Bury South MP Ivan Lewis branding it ‘bogus’. In a letter to the council's school department, Mr Lewis called the consultation, which ended on Friday, November 16, ‘muddled’. The council launched a consultation to gauge the opinions of the Radcliffe public about the new £20m school, which currently operates on two sites after a merger between Coney Green Technology College and Radcliffe High School in 2004.

FURTHER criticisms have been levelled at the controversial Radcliffe Riverside consultation this week, with Bury South MP Ivan Lewis branding it ‘bogus’. In a letter to the council's school department, Mr Lewis called the consultation, which ended on Friday, November 16, ‘muddled’.

The council launched a consultation to gauge the opinions of the Radcliffe public about the new £20m school, which currently operates on two sites after a merger between Coney Green Technology College and Radcliffe High School in 2004.

The consultation was launched after it was revealed that the school is currently 28 per cent undersubscribed, and the consultations provide five options for the school, which will be on the site of the former East Lancs Paper Mill.

One of the controversial plans is to lower the intake from 900 to 600 and incorporate Radcliffe Hall Primary School into the same building, or reducing the size of the school altogether.

Ivan Lewis said: “This is a bogus consultation designed to justify the council’s intention to go back on commitments made to the people of Radcliffe.

“Radcliffe families deserve the best education for their children in a 900-place school which is at the heart of our vision for a regenerated Radcliffe. Anything less is not acceptable to me or my constituents.”

The school, which was due to open its doors to pupils in January 2009, has been faced with a string of setbacks and controversy, after doubts were raised about whether the school would open on time as planned.

Bury council officials ordered further investigations into the school's site after questions were raised about its land value, leading to possible delays on building work.

In a letter to the school department, Councillor Wayne Campbell, who instigated the original merger between the two schools, said that the consultation did not take into account the problems that having the school on two campuses causes.

He said: “The consultation does not take into account the impact on the school, and the parents’ concerns at the present split site.

“It also does not take into account the impact of the delays to date -over two years - and the fact that parents do not believe the school will ever be built.”

The outcome of the consultation will be reported to the Council’s Executive Committee on Wednesday, November 28.